Being exposed to very hot gases which flow through the turbine section of the gas turbine engine, turbine shrouds usually need to be cooled. However, since flowing coolant through the shroud diminishes overall engine performance, it is typically desirable to minimize the cooling flow consumption without degrading shroud segment durability. Most existing cooling schemes still generally demand higher than required cooling air consumption, which therefore limits engine performance.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved shroud cooling system which addresses these and other limitations of the prior art.